The Treasure Hunter's Daughter
by thephoenixhasrisen
Summary: The hunt for the Knight's Templar Treasure from the perspective of Ben's 16 year old daughter, Amelia Gates.
1. The Charlotte

**Disclaimer: I do not own National Treasure. All rights belong to Disney and Jerry Bruckheimer. The poem that Mia quotes came from mydolltopia. All rights belong to those people and not me.**

**The Treasure Hunter's Daughter**

The Charlotte

Amelia Gates stared out the window of the snowmobile. "Snow. Snow. Snow..." Mia said to herself, bored out of her mind. She began mumbling, almost chanting,

"…._And so this fairytale begins,_

_Amidst the trees with broken limbs_.

_Through the veil of fallen snow_

_She wanders lightly, to and fro_.

_Her steely gaze and frozen grace_

_Makes crystalline her angel face_.

_So warmly clad, so cold her skin  
Beyond the Snow … Queen Ellowyn_._" _Mia stopped and looked out the window for a minute then raised her voice and added, "Ya know, Dad, you said this would be good for my education, but I don't see how."

Ben half turned in his seat, as much as one can when driving a snowmobile, to look at his sixteen year old daughter.

"I was thinking about Henson and Peary, crossing this kind of terrain with nothing more than dog sleds and on foot. Can you imagine?" Ben asked his daughter.

"It's extraordinary," Ian said. Mia rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, if you like that kinda thing," she mumbled.

"Amelia Earhart Taylor Gates! Henson and Peary were the first people who actually made it to the North Pole," Ben reprimanded her.

"Yeah, Dad, I know. Remember, you made me do a paper about them before we left. They met in D.C. and tried three times before they actually made it to the North Pole. But before that, they found out Greenland is actually an island. But I'm not really into that," Mia said.

"Are you sure you're my daughter?" Ben asked with a smile on his face.

"Not sure, but that's what the birth record says, so I guess you're stuck with me," Mia said, winking at her dad. Except for the beeping from Riley's computer there was silence in the snowmobile.

"We getting closer?" Ian asked Riley.

"Assuming Ben's theory's correct and my tracking model's accurate, we should be getting very close. But don't go by me - I broke a shoelace this morning." Mia stared at Riley, confusion on her face. "It's... it's a bad omen," Riley explained.

"Shall we turn around and go home?" Ian asked Ben.

"Or we could pull over and just throw him out here," Ben suggested.

"I'll figure out how to do his job!" Mia added with a grin while reaching to take Riley's computer. Riley dodged the "attack" but knocking over his hula dancer sitting on the laptop board.

"Okay... Not cool," Riley pouted as he picked up the little dancer.

"Riley, you're not missing that little windowless cubicle we found you in?" Ben asked.

"No, no. Absolutely not."

"How could he miss that boring old office? Especially when he can have a seat in a snowmobile looking for the treasure of all treasures," Mia added, hitting Riley in the shoulder and grinning.

_Beep-beep-beep_.

Everyone turned to look at Riley; he messed with his laptop for a few seconds. The beeping stopped and Riley started grinning.

"We're here!" Riley announced happily.

As Ben stopped the snowmobile Mia looked expectantly out the window.

"Why are we stopping? I thought we were looking for a ship," Shaw, one of Ian's cronies, asked.

"I don't see any ship," Powell added, also confused.

"She's out there." Ben said looking wistfully out at the miles and miles of snow in front of him.

…...

Mia mindlessly waved her metal detector back and forth over the snow, thinking about the Knight's Templar Treasure and what would happen to her and her dad after they found it. It had been hard for Mia growing up. When she was two years old her mother, sick of Ben's treasure hunting, had walked out on them in the middle of the night. Knowing she wouldn't be able to support a little girl, she had left Mia with Ben. In middle school once the other kids found out what she and her Dad believed about the founding fathers they would just make fun of her. As she got older it only got worse. Her freshman year had been really bad, she had actually gotten suspended twice because of the things she would say in history class. After that Ben had tried a tutor but with how much they traveled, and how much it cost, it didn't work well. That's when they switched to homeschooling. Mia missed some of the teachers, but on the whole she was very glad for the change. Sure her Dad was strict about school, and was always making her write papers, but she wouldn't go back if she was given the choice. Besides she still had her cello lessons. Riley walked up next to her, breaking into her thought processes, "I really hope we find this ship soon. I'm starting to freeze."

"Yeah, me too. And I'm wearing, like, four layers," Mia replied, jumping up and down a little, trying to warm herself up. Powell, another of Ian's guys, walked towards Mia and Riley.

"Look... this is a waste of time. How could a ship wind up way out here?" he asked.

Riley looked down at a little device that Mia had no idea what it was and said, "Well, I'm no expert, but... it could be that the hydrothermic properties of this region produce hurricane-force ice storms that cause the ocean to freeze and then melt and then refreeze, resulting in a semisolid migrating land mass that would land a ship right around here." Riley looked at Powell, then straight ahead and started walking, waving his metal detector as he went.

Mia looked at Riley, looked at Powell, shrugged, and then started moving. Mia was about in the middle of the area they were covering. She saw her Dad in front of her, and then heard his metal detector start beeping fast, the way they do when you find something. He knelt down, digging through the snow, Mia started running towards her Dad and got there just as he was saying, "Hello, beautiful." Mia looked down and saw the word _Charlotte_.

…...

"Have Viktor check the fuel in the generators."

Mia stood on the deck of the Charlotte. She would have been doing a victory dance if there hadn't been seven guys there to see her do it. After more then sixteen years her Dad had found the Charlotte. Mia pulled her hat down over her ears and went and stood by Ben. He put his arm around her shoulders.

"I'm glad we found her, Dad."

"Me too, Mia," Ben said, smiling down at her. As Ian walked up behind them Ben turned and shook his hand. On an impulse Mia went over and gave Ian a hug, which he returned warmly.

"Two years ago, if you hadn't shown up, hadn't believed the treasure was real, I don't know if we ever would have found Charlotte," Ben said, patting Ian on the back.

"You would have found it, I have no doubt. That's why I didn't think it was as crazy an investment as everyone said," Ian said smiling.

Mia grinned and said, "Oh, we're a crazy investment, Ian. Don't forget the England incident-" Ben interrupted Mia before she could tell the story...again.

"I'm just relieved that I'm not as crazy as everyone says. Or said my dad was. Or my granddad. Or my great-granddad." Ian and Mia laughed at his joke. "OK! Let's go!" Ben called out.

"Let's go find some treasure," Ian stated.

"Yeah, bring us back something," called one of the guys.

...

Ian, Ben, Riley, Mia and Shaw headed down into the ship. The first place they went through was the sleeping quarters. Riley was right in front of Mia and as he moved a hammock out of the way to see under it, she caught a glimpse of a body frozen to death still sleeping. Riley fell over trying to get away from the body.

"Oh! God!" Riley shouted and fell over trying to get away from the body. Mia's eyes were as big as saucers; a mixture of fear and panic on her face. Mia looked down at Riley, "You okay, Riley?" She asked giving him a hand as he stood up.

"Uhhh... Yeah... I'm alright," Riley answered. Ben looked at Riley, the second youngest in the group, and said, "You handled that well." He passed them, searching through the rest of the ship. Mia gave Riley one of those "I'm sorry" smiles that you can't help but liking and forgiving anyone when you get one.

They heard Ben saying, "This is it. It's the cargo hold." As he opened the door. They all were very excited to see what would be inside. The door swung open and all they saw was barrels. Confusion made its way across Mia's face.

"Do you think it's in the barrels?" Riley asked the question they were all thinking. They all made their way into the room. Mia walked slowly following her father, pointing her flashlight around.

Riley, Shaw and Ian started opening the barrels and black powder poured out. Ian lifted some to his noes and smelled it. "Gunpowder."

"Hey Dad?" Mia asked softly so the guys, especially Shaw, wouldn't hear her.

"Yeah, Mia."

"Do you think the treasure is here?"

"It might be."

"Do you hope it will be here?"

"I hope we find it, Almond Joy," Ben remarked, calling Mia by her old pet name.

"I hope so too, Dad."

Ben stopped in front of a body that, going by his clothes, Mia guessed would be the captain of the ship. "Why would the captain be guarding this barrel?" Ben whispered more to himself then Mia. Ben bent down and moved the captain's fingers and took the barrel from him. Mia wrinkled her nose and felt a little sick at the thought of her Dad touching a guy's body who had been dead for around 200 years. As Ben poured the gunpowder out he found a small package. Mia looked at her Dad, wonder in her eyes "What do you think it is Dad?" Then raising her voice called out, "Hey guys! Come here! I think we found something!" Ben moved over to a table. Mia was practically dancing she was so excited. Ben opened the package and slowly pulled out a pipe.

"What is it?" Riley asked.

"Do you know what this is Mia?" Ben asked looking at the pipe and then his daughter.

"Is it a billion-dollar pipe?" Riley asked. Mia rolled her eyes at him then looked at her the pipe as Ian took it from Ben.

"Is it ivory?" Mia guessed.

"It's a meerschaum pipe. Ah, that is beautiful," Ian said looking at the pipe.

"Look at the intricacy of the scrollwork on the stem," Ben pointed at the pipe.

"It's beautiful, Dad" Mia whispered.

"Is it a million-dollar pipe?" Riley asked hopefully.

"No, it's a clue" Ben took the pipe back from Ian. "Let me see that." Then he pulled the pipe in two.

"No, don't break it!" Riley exclaimed and Mia's eyes got pretty big.

"Dad, why-"

"We are one step closer to the treasure." Ben said, smiling.

"Ben, I thought you said that the treasure would be on the Charlotte." Mia looked at Ian as he talked, he seemed a little to disappointed to Mia.

"No, _The secret lies with Charlotte_." Ben had pulled off his gloves and cut his thumb with his pocket knife while he had been talking, then rubbed a little of his blood on the scroll. Mia wanted to throw up. She hated the sight of blood. "I said it could be here." Ben rolled the scroll across his notebook so he could read what it had to tell them. "It's Templar symbols. _The legend writ_._ The stain effected_._ The key in Silence undetected_._ Fifty-five in iron pen_._ Mr_._ Matlack can't offend_. It's a riddle. I need to think." Ben pulled his gloves back on, and started walking around the room. "_The legend writ_._ The stain effected_.What legend? There's the legend of the Templar treasure, and the stain effects the legend. How? _The key in Silence undetected. _Wait. The legend and the key... Now there's something." He sat down on one of the barrels. "A map. Maps have legends, maps have keys. It's a map, an invisible map. So now..."

Before Ben could finish his sentence, Ian interrupted "Wait a minute. What do you mean, 'invisible' - 'an invisible map'?"

"_The stain effected_ could refer to a dye or a reagent used to bring about a certain result. Combined with _The key in Silence undetected_, the implication is that the effect is to make what was undetectable detectable. Unless... _The key in Silence_ could be..."

"Prison," Shaw cut in. Everybody stared at him.

"Albuquerque," Riley retorted. "See, I can do it too. Snorkel," Mia couldn't help laughing at his joke. Shaw gave her a dirty look and she stopped.

"That's where the map is. Like he said, _Fifty-five in iron pen._ 'Iron pen' is a prison," Shaw added, explaining why he had said it.

"Or it could be, since the primary writing medium of the time was iron gall ink, the 'pen' is... just a pen," Ben answered Shaw. "But then why not say a pen? Why... why say 'iron pen'?"

"'Cause it's a prison." Shaw mumbled

"Wait a minute," Ben stopped. "_Iron pen_ - the 'iron' does not describe the ink in the pen, it describes what was penned. It was 'iron' - it was firm, it was mineral... No, no, no, that's stupid," He thought for a minute and then tried again. "It was... It was firm, it was adamant, it was resolved," He paused. "It was resolved." Mia could tell by his face that Ben had figured something out. "_Mr_._ Matlack can't offend_. Timothy Matlack was the official scribe of the Continental Congress. Calligrapher, not writer. And to make sure he could not offend the map, it was put on the back of a resolution that he transcribed, a resolution that 55 men signed. The Declaration of Independence," Ben said, standing up.

Riley stared at Ben in disbelief and then said, "Come on, there's no invisible map on the back of the Declaration of Independence."

"That's clever, really. A document of that importance would ensure the map's survival. And you said there were several Masons signed it, yeah?" Ian asked Ben.

"Yeah. Nine, for sure," Mia said quietly, thinking.

"We'll have to arrange a way to examine it."

Ben looked at Ian like he was crazy. "This is one of the most important documents in history. They're not just gonna let us waltz in there and run chemical tests on it."

"Then what do you propose we do?" Ian asked Ben.

"I don't know!" Ben almost shouted.

Ian was quiet for a minute then said, "We could borrow it."

"Steal it? I don't think so."

"Ben... the treasure of the Knights Templar is the treasure of all treasures."

"Oh, I didn't know that. Really?" Ben said sarcastically.

"Look, Ben..." Ian paused gathering his words. "I understand your bitterness. I really do. You've spent your entire life searching for this treasure, only to have the respected historical community treat you and your family with mockery and contempt. You should be able to rub this treasure in their arrogant faces, and I want you to have the chance to do that."

"How?" Ben asked quietly, thinking of what they should do.

"We all have our areas of expertise. You don't think mine are limited to writing cheques, do you? In another life... I arranged a number of operations of... questionable legality." Ian said as he stood up.

"I'd take his word for it, if I were you." Shaw said as he walk over to Ian

"So don't worry. I'll make all the arrangements." Ian said so quietly Mia almost didn't hear him.

"No."

"I'd really need your help here." Ian said, staring at Ben.

"Ian... I'm not gonna let you steal the Declaration of Independence."

"OK. From this point on all you're going to be is a hindrance." Ian nodded at Shaw who pulled a gun out and pointed it at Ben.

"Hey!" Riley and Mia yelled.

"What are you gonna do? Are you gonna shoot me, Shaw? Well, you can't shoot me. There's more to the riddle. Information you don't have. I do. I'm the only one who can figure it out, and you know that." Ben said.

"He's bluffing." Shaw whispered to Ian

"We played poker together, Ian," Ben said nervously. "You know I can't bluff."

"Tell me what I need to know, Ben, or I'll shoot your daughter." Ian said as Shaw turned the gun on Mia.

"Hey!" Riley said, starting towards Mia. "You can't-"

"Quiet, Riley!" Ian yelled, cutting Riley off. Mia started to back away from Shaw.

Ben pulled a flare from his coat and lit it. "Look where you're standing. All that gunpowder. You shoot her, I drop this, we all go up."

"Ben..." "Dad..." Riley and Mia said at the same time.

"What happens when the flare burns down? Tell me what I need to know, Ben." Ian said calmly, as if knowing he had won.

"You need to know... if Shaw can catch." Ben told Ian as he through the flare. Mia flinched, thinking to herself, _Our time has come_... _we're all gonna die_. _And by my father's own hand, too_.

Ian grabbed it just as it was about to hit the floor.

"Nice try, though." Just as Ian was saying this the flare went off, catching Ian's coat on fire. He dropped the flare and the gunpowder started to burn. Ben ducked, grabbing Mia as Shaw started shooting. Riley dove to the floor. The fire was starting to spread.

"Get out, Shaw!" Ian yelled, putting out the fire on his coat sleeve. As Ian got to the door way Ben made eye contact with him, then the fire road up.

"Fool!" Mia heard Ian yell after he slammed the door. Ben stood up and started stomping the floor. When he found the part of the floor that sounded hollow he yelled, "Mia, Riley, get over here!" Ben yelled over the fire.

"What is this?" Riley asked Ben.

"Smuggler's hold. Get in!" Ben said as he shoved Mia in. They ran through the tunnel, racing against the fire, knowing it was only a matter of seconds before the Charlotte blew up.

Ben yelled, "Get down!" There was a slamming noise, then she was knocked off her feet landing on the snow, something heavy landed on top of her and all she saw was black.

…...

Ben pushed Mia into a sitting position as she came to.

"You okay?" He asked gently.

"Yeah, Dad..." She whispered. "But I have a really bad headache."

"Look in my eyes." Mia focused on her Dad's eyes. "Your pupils are the same size, so you should be okay," Ben wrapped his arm around Mia, kissing her forehead. "I'm glad you're okay." He turned to Riley, and asked, "You alright?"

"Yeah, Ben, I'm fine."

The three made their way out of the wreckage of what used to be the Charlotte.

"There's an Inuit village about nine miles east of here. It's popular with bush pilots." Ben said once they got back out into the open.

"All right. Then what are we gonna do?" Riley asked.

"Start making our way back home." Ben answered Riley's question. "What else would we do?"

"No, I meant about Ian. He's gonna steal the Declaration of Independence, Ben." Riley explained.

"We have to do something, Dad." Mia added, excitement and worry in her voice. Ben stopped, turned and looked at Mia and Riley.

"We stop him."


	2. The National Archive Building

The National Archive Building

Mia sat in the back of Riley's van reading Inkheart, eating a sandwich and waiting for her Dad and Riley to come out of the FBI building. She rolled down the window; even in April the van could still get fairly warm in the sunshine. They had been back for less than 72 hours and they had already been to the Department of Homeland Security, and now the FBI building. Dad had decided that Mia should wait in the car or she could stay at the apartment, seeing that a sixteen year old probably wouldn't be taken very seriously. She had decided to go with sitting in the car so she would know the minute they got out what had happened. As she stared out the window she saw her Dad and Riley coming out of the building. She jumped out of the van and headed their way.

"How did it go?" she ask when she got close.

"Is it really so hard to believe that someone's gonna try to steal the Declaration of Independence?" Riley asked Ben, ignoring her question. Ben almost seemed to shrug the question off, though Mia could tell he was upset.

"No good?" she asked, hope draining from her.

Riley looked at Mia and said, "We got farther with the Department of Homeland Security."

"The FBI gets 10,000 tips a week. They're not gonna worry about something they're sure is safe," Ben informed the duo.

"Anyone that can do anything is gonna think we're crazy. Anyone crazy enough to believe us isn't gonna want to help," Riley voiced his frustration. Ben stopped and looked at Riley and Mia.

"We don't need someone crazy. But one step short of crazy, what do you get?" Ben asked.

Riley paused then stated, "Obsessed."

Mia looked at her Dad. "Fervent?"

"Close, Mia. Passionate," Ben told them.

…...

It had been about an hour since Ben and Riley had gone to see a Dr. Chase. Mia didn't really get what this Doctor guy could do about it, but anything was better than nothing. Besides she was content to take pictures at the National Archive Building while they had their meeting. She hadn't taken a lot of pictures of buildings, and needed some practice. Not that taking pictures of buildings was her favorite thing. Her preference was people. People and nature. Not buildings and not animals.

Eventually she gave up and started doing a paper about New York. It was one of many papers she had to do for school about the states. She was doing her best, but she figured even with all the work she had put into it her Dad would probably only give her a C. C+ at best. History just wasn't her thing and her Dad just didn't seem to get that. She gave up on that also and was heading for the front door when she saw Dad and Riley heading her way.

"If it's any consolation, you have me convinced," she heard Riley say.

"It's not." Ben said rather abruptly.

"Hey," she called out. "How did this one go?" Riley semi-rolled his eyes and Ben just shook his head.

"What did he say?" Mia asked, disappointment in her voice.

"She," Riley replied. "And this time we got to the pipe. But she still didn't believe us."

"That's not so bad...about the pipe I mean," Mia commented quietly, then lamented, "But still nobody believes us."

"I was thinking, what if we go public, plaster this story all over the Internet? It's not like we have our reputations to worry about," Riley suggested. "Although I don't think that's exactly gonna scare Ian away." The three stood in front of the Declaration's display case and stared at it. Mia saw a wistful look on her dad's face.

"180 years of searching, and I'm three feet away," he whispered. He looked at Mia, then turned to the declaration, "Of all the words written here about freedom, there's a line here that's at the heart of all the others. '_But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and provide new Guards for their future security_.' Beautiful, huh? People don't talk that way any more," Ben told the two younger people. Mia nodded, but didn't say a word.

"Yeah," Riley muttered. "No idea what you said."

"It means, if there's something wrong, those who have the ability to take action have the responsibility to take action," Ben explained, and then quietly added, "I'm gonna steal it,"

Mia eyes got huge and Riley did one of those weird laugh/cough things and then said, "What?"

"I'm gonna steal the Declaration of Independence," Ben repeated himself determinedly, then turned and headed out of the building.

"Uh...Ben?" Riley said. He turned to follow Ben, stopped when he realized Mia wasn't coming with them, turned around, grabbed her wrist, and practically pulled her out of the building.

…...

Mia sat on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial next to Riley feeling like someone had punched her in the stomach. She could barely hear Riley trying to talk some sense into her Dad's head. "This is... huge. It's prison huge. You are going go to prison, you know that?"

"Yeah, probably," Ben answered, not seeming fazed.

"Prison would bother most people," Riley seemed like he was going to cry.

"Ian's gonna try to steal it. And if he succeeds, he'll destroy the Declaration. The fact is, the only way to protect the Declaration is to steal it. It's upside down. I don't think there's a choice," Ben explained to Riley and Mia, as he sat down.

"Dad... what... how could this possibly help us?" Mia asked.

Riley stood up, agitated."Ben, for God's sakes, it's like stealing a national monument. OK? It's like stealing him," Riley gestured at the statue of Abraham Lincoln. "It can't be done. Not 'shouldn't' be done. It _can't_ be done. Let me prove it to you."

…...

Mia and Ben sat opposite of Riley at a table at the Library of Congress. Ben was reading a book, Mia was leaning on the table; her mind going a billion miles a second.

Riley looked up from his book. "OK, Ben, pay attention. I've brought you to the Library of Congress. Why? Because it's the biggest library in the world. Over 20 million books. And they're all saying the same thing: listen to Riley." Ben looked up from the book he was reading, seeming somewhat bored. Mia had a feeling that whatever Riley was about to say would make her feel worse than she already did. "What we have here, my friend," Riley continued, "is an entire layout of the archives. Short of builders' blueprints. You've got construction orders, phone lines, water and sewage - it's all here," Riley flipped the book over so Ben and Mia could see it. "Now, when the Declaration is on display, OK, it is surrounded by guards, and video monitors, and little families from Iowa, and little kids on their eighth-grade field trips. And beneath an _inch_ of bulletproof glass is an army of sensors and heat monitors that will go off if someone gets too close with a high _fever_." Riley flipped a couple pages in his book, "Now, when it's not on display, it is lowered into a four-foot-thick concrete, steel-plated vault... that happens to be equipped with an electronic combination lock and biometric access-denial systems."

"You know, Thomas Edison tried and failed nearly 2,000 times to develop the carbonized cotton-thread filament for the incandescent light bulb," Ben interrupted.

"Edison?" Riley asked, confused.

"What does..." Mia trailed off.

"When asked about it, he said, _I didn't fail, I found out 2,000 ways how not to make a light bulb_. But he only needed to find one way to make it work. The Preservation Room. Enjoy. Go ahead," Ben flipped the book he had been reading over for Riley to look at. "Do you know what the Preservation Room is for?" Ben asked the college graduate.

"Delicious jams and jellies?" Riley guessed lamely.

"No," Ben replied flatly. "That's where they clean, repair and maintain all the documents and the storage housings when they're not on display or in the vault. Now, when the case needs work they take it out of the vault, directly across the hall and into the Preservation Room. The best time for us, or Ian, to steal it would be during the gala this weekend when the guards are distracted by the VIPs upstairs. But we'll make our way to the Preservation Room, where there's much less security," Ben leaned back in his chair as Riley looked at the book Ben had handed him. Mia looked at her Dad.

"What gala? And how is it that you have a way for everything?" Mia asked her dad accusingly.

Riley flipped through the book. "Well, if Ian..." Mia jumped up and ran around the table to look at the book with Riley. "Preservation... The gala, huh? This might be possible," Riley concluded, looking up at Ben.

"It might work..." Mia whispered looking up at Ben.

Ben nodded solemnly, "It might."

…...

Mia pulled her cello out of the case. It had been a while since she had played, with the trip to find the Charlotte and all, plus there was plenty of emotion built up in Mia that she had to do something with or she would probably explode. She did some fine tuning, then began playing. She didn't even notice how much time had passed until she heard someone knock at the door. She stopped as she glanced up at the clock. 7:27 pm. "Come on in."

"Okay, Mia, whats eating away at you?" Ben asked walking into her room, and sitting down on her bed.

Mia tried to sound chipper, "What do you mean, Dad?"

Ben tapped her sheet. "Your music speaks volumes when you keep silent; all sad or depressing music, and its all you've been playing since we got home. Sweetie, I know. Something's wrong. Tell me, please."

Mia laid her cello on its side and took a deep breath. "The Declaration of Independence? I mean honestly. The Declaration of Independence? You said yourself, not even a week ago that it's the most important document in our history! How can you decide in 20 seconds to steal it? I know, you proved it can be done, but really, do you think it can work? And I do agree, "it might be possible." But _might_ is the key word in that sentence. I mean I want to find the treasure as much as you, but... really? The Declaration of Independence? And did you even think of what would happen to you if your plan doesn't work? If we get caught?" Mia was practically yelling, and talking very fast, making it hard to understand her. "You would go to jail, probably for the rest of your life! I'd have to move in with Grandma, or Grandpa and you know I can't stand him! But even if it does work, then what do we do?" Mia was in tears looking at her father.

Ben was quiet a minute, seeing his daughter as a little girl again. When she would get a cut she'd run to him and ask for a kiss, but a kiss on the cheek doesn't fix this kind of problem. He pulled her onto his lap, and let her cry for a minute or two, then said comfortingly, "Mia, you know I would never do something to hurt you. I don't know how this is gonna work, but we have to try. To keep it safe. But I will try as hard as I can, so that nothing will hurt you, Amelia."

Mia sniffed a few times then said quietly, "Yeah... I know, Dad. I'm sorry I yelled at you. Forgive me?"

"Always." Ben whispered, kissing Mia gently on the head.

…...

45 hours later, 4:30pm

Mia ran to get the phone; she had just gotten back from running and from the sounds of it, Dad wasn't anywhere around either. She got to it just before it went to voice mail, "Hello, Mia speaking." She said breathlessly.

"Hey! Mia! Your Dad around?"

"Sorry, Riley," she said still trying to catch her breath. "I think he said something about going to the library, or taking some pictures, or something. Why? What's up?"

"Well, I got the surveillance hooked up, so we're ready at that end."

"Okay, cool. You still had something you needed to make, right... that thing to set off the sensor on the Declaration's case?"

"Yeah. Still need to put that together."

"Want to do it here? I still need to make the black light ink. You can come over and stay for supper."

"Shouldn't you ask your Dad that?"

"Come on, Riley, you're more like family then anything else."

"Okay... See you in a while."

"Later, Riley."

…...

4 hours later, 8:17pm

Mia sat at the kitchen table watering down the black-light ink they needed. Ben was making a fake ID so he could get into the National Archive building.

"...Okay..." Mia smiled as pouring the last bit of water in the jar. "That should do it." she stuck her fingers in the jar and drew something on the table. She handed Ben a black-light flashlight. "The honor of finding it goes to you, dear sir."

Ben looked up from his computer, took the little flashlight his daughter was holding in front of him and turned it on. He shined it back and forth on the table where Mia had been sitting. He stopped when he found a little smiley face. "Good work Mia." She grinned then got to work on cleaning up her little mess from making the black light ink as Ben went back to working on his laptop. Silence came over the apartment for a while as Mia finished cleaning then flopped on the coach and started to read.

"I'll buy that." Ben said breaking into Mia's book after a while.

"You'll buy what? Me a new laptop?" Mia asked, grinning. She got up and headed over to where her dad was working.

"It's the ID, I'll need to get in the Archive, so I can get in the gala." Mia studied the real ID, that her dad had taken a picture of, and the one he had made.

"They look a lot alike," She paused, and looked at them for a while longer. "Well done Dad..." She drifted off.

…...

18 hours later, 2:09pm

"Mission accomplished," Mia said grinning as she hopped into Riley's van.

"We're in?"

Mia rolled her eyes at Riley's question as she tried to pull her bike into the van already full of stuff. "Of course we're in. Doctor Chase's secretary said she would give her the box as soon as she got back from some meeting. Speaking of lunch, do you have anything edible in here? I haven't eaten anything since supper last night." She started poking around as Riley shut his laptop.

He gave her a look. "We weren't speaking of lunch, and if that's done we have to go set off the heat sensor." He stood up and got out of the van parked in front of the National Archive Building, pulling his video camera from his jacket.

"I have an evil plan to pull off," he grinned as he pulled the van door shut behind him.

"So I should take that as a no on the edible food around?"

…...

20 minutes later, 2:29pm

Riley and Mia sat in the back of Riley's red van. They had everything done and now were waiting for the drama to unfold. Riley was in the back doing something with his "security" system, and Mia was sitting on the floor, leaning against the driver's seat and worrying about everything that could go wrong the next night.

"I mean, he could get killed, Riley! What if the ID he made doesn't fool the guards?"

Riley barely looked up from his computer, "The ID he made looks awesome."

"Okay, so if the ID works, what about your hacking system failing?"

"I've done this before Mia, it's - like my job." Riley retorted coolly. "So, you're not worried about your ink failing?"

"Hey! I've done that before. I wanted to be a spy when I was 13!" Mia snapped back. Riley was silent, looking absorbed in whatever he was doing.

"I'm sorry, Riley," Mia said quietly. "It's just... this could end really badly if everything doesn't go right as planed. I can't freak out around Dad, so... I guess I just do it around you 'cause you can handle it."

Riley looked up from his laptop, and saw a little girl scared about losing her Dad. He set his laptop on the chair he had been sitting in and knelt down next to Mia.

"Your dad's a genius, he'll make it work."

"But what if you're wrong, Riley? What if even he can't make this one come out the way he wants it to?"

"We've all done our best, Mia. I know stealing the Declaration isn't really the best idea, but your Dad's going to make it through this. We all will. Who knows, someday we'll look back on this and be glad we did it."

"I guess if we don't do this we'll never find out where the treasure is."

"Exactly, and if we don't find the treasure who knows what your Dad will do," Riley said with a smile in his voice.

"So you think it's worth it?" Before Riley could answer Mia's question they heard voices coming from Riley's laptop.

"Let's do this by the book. Hallway is secure." The pair looked at each other then scrambled for the laptop.

"Keep the document level."

"No problem."

"What have you got?"

"The heat sensor went off in the Declaration frame"

"I guess there's no backing out now," Mia whispered.

"Run full diagnostics, then I want them all changed out"

Riley looked up from the computer screen and at Mia and grinned, "Our evil plan is working."


End file.
